Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 331,766 Shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 1,386.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 355,699 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 331,766 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Qualys were worth $49,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Qualys during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $445,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 208.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 86,187 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,072,000 after purchasing an additional 58,252 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Qualys by 428.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,256 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 14,804 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 57.7% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,672 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after buying an additional 5,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Qualys by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,015 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,525,000 after buying an additional 8,291 shares during the period. 99.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualys Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ QLYS opened at $135.91 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $146.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.94 and a beta of 0.57. Qualys, Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.17 and a 52 week high of $201.03.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The company had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

QLYS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Qualys from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.56, for a total value of $165,446.84. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,830,273.24. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of Qualys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total value of $209,616.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 113,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,885,415.24. The trade was a 1.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,716 shares of company stock worth $4,620,419 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.